The Shallow Well Cemetery Project

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)
decided that a main road here in Sanford needs to be widened. Before the
widening can get started, though, a large portion of the graves in the Shallow
Well Church cemetery have to be relocated.

First, I went to FindAGrave.com and Ancestry.com. I also did
Google searches. I looked at census records, death certificates, other people’s
family trees, obituaries, address listings, city directories, wedding licenses,
property records, an actual phone book, and more.

The Watsons

Sandy Watson’s first name is actually Alexander. He and his
wife, Carra, had two daughters. One of them had a child who passed. The other
daughter had three children: Frederick, Samuel, and Carolyn. All three of them have passed, but they
collectively had seven children. My goal was to find one of them, and I did!
That’s two of the five on my list done.

The Wolfes

Theodore Wolfe was married twice, first to Lessie Coe. He
and Lessie had children together. Lessie died of diphtheria when she as about
35. Theodore’s second wife was Mary Bryant Crissman. Mary had children with her
first husband, but she and Theodore had no children together.

It took some time, but I found people on Ancestry who could
possibly help me find a next-of-kin for Theodore and Lessie, and for Mary. I
sent messages via Ancestry, and fortunately one of them was able to put me in
touch with Lessie and Theodore’s daughter. We had a pleasant chat on the phone.
That makes four of the five complete.

Lessie and Theodore’s daughter gave me some leads for finding
Mary’s next-of-kin. That’s my goal for the next few days. I got six more names
from T today. I’ll start in on them later this week.

I always enjoy a genealogical mystery, and I’m glad I heard about this opportunity to help T. with this project. Have you had an opportunity to help someone else with genealogy research? I’d love to hear about it.